Dek Unu Magazine Pugnet Jan 2024

Dek Unu Magazine

January 2024

Francois

Gna

Magazine
© Dek Unu Arts, 2024

Eleven

This is Dek Unu Magazine. |n Esperanto, dek unu means "eleven." Eleven images from a single
artist. Eleven artists in eleven solo issues in each publication year. Dek Unu publishes the work of a
new artist-photographer in each issue. The artist's work and words are featured in individual focus as
the sole purpose for each issue of the magazine. Unlike other arts and letters magazines which
might look for work from a variety of artists to support an editorial staff's theme, at Dek Unu, theme
and imagery are always each artist's own.

This Month

If every picture tells a_ story, artist-photographer Francois Pugnet’s
environmental portraits tell some of the very best. It has been said that color is
everything, but black-and-white is more. These photographs provide a brilliant
case in point, telling a story that is both unique and universal, and that is
anything but monochromatic.

Although they differ widely from one another, the best portrait photographers
create images in ways that tell about both the subject and the artist. Halsmann
made them jump. Avedon put them in a sharp black box. Mapplethorpe’s were
sculptures. Arbus liked them dark. Francois Pugnet’s deeply-seen portraits for his
project, 75+ and Still Working, are luminous with his respect for his subjects and
their long and eventful lives. At the same time, they reveal his commitment to his
own decades of persistence at the work of perfecting his craft. These images are
beautifully made, of men and women well into the days when others would be
enjoying a new life among the relaxed and retired. They are pictured in their
workplaces, in jobs they’ve had for many years, or in jobs newly required by a
long life’s inevitable ups and downs. Whether they continue to work by choice or
necessity, these workers’ live “for real,” in traditional jobs and in service to others.
Pugnet’s straight black-and-white technique, born analog but still traditional,
serves both to report eloquently on this timely social issue and to preserve the
tradition of sharp focus, lush contrast, and perfect composition learned from the
early masters of photography as fine art. It is an enduring paradox that, while the
artist’s likeness is nowhere to be seen in these portraits, he cannot be missed.

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Herzel (92)

Herzel was born in Oran, Algeria, in 1930. From the age of eight, he spent his days
in the street, buying small items from thieves and selling them on, which enabled
him to give his money every evening to his family to help them live. At 13, he set
up his first jewelry business, making and wholesaling jewelry. In 1956, he arrived
in Paris and set up as a watchmaker and jeweler in the store he still occupies today.
After his eighth robbery, he decided in the 70s to give up jewelry and concentrate
solely on watchmaking. He continues to work, however, as he only receives a
pension of €400 a month, which means he has to continue working from Tuesday
to Saturday, opening only in the afternoons.

Katya (90)

Katya was born in Paris in 1932 to a Russian father and a Lyonnaise mother. She
spent her childhood near Porte de Clignancourt and describes herself as a titi

(a child of Paris, from the popular milieu, delerious, smart, prankster, by extension,
the titi is an adult from the Parisian working class). She was a pupil of Irene Popard
and Serge Lifar at the Paris Opera, but the war put an end to her dream. She was
elected Miss Puces-de-Saint-Ouen. At the age of 40, she took up karate, eventually
becoming a black belt. She began hairdressing in 1946 at the age of fourteen. She
had always worked ten hours a day and didn't want to hear about retirement. She
has been running her salon on boulevard Magenta for 60 years, making it the oldest
hairdressing salon in Paris.

Maurice (99)

Maurice was born in Balan, in the Ardennes, in 1923 and began working at the age
of 15 as an apprentice shoemaker in Aurillac in the Cantal region. At 17, he moved
to Montlucon, where he spent two years learning the bootmaker's trade. At the age
of 20, he escaped from Méziéres-en-Brenne (Indre) with another inmate of the
Chantiers de la Jeunesse youth camp, to avoid being sent to Germany. They hiked
to the Dordogne, where he was hidden by a farming family near Les Eyzies. He
later married the best friend of the family's daughter. He joined the maquis
(French Resistance) at Siorac-en-Périgord, where he remained for two-and-a-half
years until the end of the war. In 1946, he set up his own shoemaker's workshop
in Le Bugue, where for many years he made bespoke shoes, specializing in hunting
boots. He retired in 2005, but continued to work until 2017, working six days a
week from then on. He called it, "lifting his foot off the gas," working when he felt
like it but open practically every day. He worked until May 1 of this year, his 100th
birthday, when he decided to retire for good.

Pierre (94)

Pierre is the son and grandson of ivory-makers from Dieppe, the French cradle of

ivory. As the port town began to decline in importance, the family moved to Paris

in 1910. He was born on December 7, 1928, on the fifth floor of the building housing
his father's store, which is now his own. He studied sculpture at the Académie des

Beaux-Arts. After class, he would come to the family studio to take lessons in ivory
from his father, who had learned it from his. At the age of 18, Pierre made his first
statue, Venus, Nude, and became a true ivory-maker.

Due to legal restrictions imposed in 1989, he was the last French ivory-maker. The
Washington Convention has prohibited international trade in endangered species. A
store like Pierre's therefore lives on previously acquired stock, and invoices specify
this to avoid any misunderstanding. Derogations are possible for the restoration,
without purchase or sale, of objects manufactured before January 18, 1990.

He has no intention of retiring. "It's important to keep working,” he says. He takes
Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off. His son having retired, he now works with his
grandson, Nicolas, 39.

Michel (86)

Michel was born in France in 1935, and began working in his father's joinery and
cabinetmaking business at the age of 14. Trained on the job by the family firm's
workers, he took over the business in 1970 and employed up to five workers. But
after the storm of 1999, a timber merchant asked him to saw the wood from
uprooted trees to make frameworks. He did this for three years, until the wood
reserves ran out, and then decided to continue working, sawing to order for private
customers. Today he works alone.

Pierre (102)

Pierre was born in 1921 in France, and caught the circus bug from his uncle
Georges Markonys, who was an aerialist. He began trapeze at the age of 17 and
turned professional at 19. He joined General Leclerc's 2nd Armored Division, where
he took part in the French campaign, the Liberation of Strasbourg, and the German
campaign. After the war, he and his younger brother Lucien founded the troupe
"Les Marconys" as a tribute to their uncle, performing their acts without safety nets
under the biggest big tops: Bouglione, Gruss, Ringling and Barnum in Europe and
the USA. He performed on top shows such as La Piste aux étoiles. He stopped his
career at the age of 42 to become a trapeze teacher, teaching all over France after
starting his new life at the Cité du Midi in Pigalle. From 1964 to 1979, he trained
actors to master the trapeze for the Gala des Artistes acts. He was also technical
advisor on 9 films, including Yoyo and Les Ailes du désir. Movie stars call on his
expertise to master certain stunts.He continues to teach as much out of passion
as out of economic necessity. In 2019, he published a book retracing his life,

Le Faiseur d'étoiles, published by La Société des écrivains. He passed away in

May 2023.

Denise (89)

Denise was born in Paris in 1917 and passed away in 2016. She was the daughter
of the famous criminologist Edmond Locard, founder of the scientific and technical
police. In 1942, in Lyon, she married Pierre Stagnara, an eminent surgeon specializing
in bone diseases and accidents. Denise Stagnara was the niece of Emile Bender,
former member of parliament, senator, and long-serving mayor of Odenas.
Mother of 10 children, she had 55 grandchildren and 57 great-grandchildren. Knight
of the Legion of Honor and Doctor of Education, she and her husband Pierre founded
the Sésame group in 1966, specializing in sex education for young people. A taboo
subject at the time. Indeed, much to their regret, it was not part of the school
curriculum. Public schools closed their doors to them, unlike some private schools
where some of their children were enrolled. Finally, in July 1973, a circular including
sex education in the school curriculum opened the doors to public education, and
she continued to give talks in local high schools well into her 90s.

Her second life was spent at the 'Garanches' wine estate, where she became manager
in 1982. Her vineyard extends over 30 acres, and has remained in the family since
its creation in 1790. It's a Brouilly appellation wine, part of the Beaujolais in the
Burgundy region of France. After fermentation, the wine is stored for four to five
months in oak barrels to produce a wine of the year, and a portion is kept for 12 to
24 months as wine for laying down (wine to drink later).

Robert (92)

Robert was born in France in 1931, and started work at the age of 15 in a heating
company. At 17, he worked until his military service with his parents, who were
litiers, where he learned the upholsterer's trade. Thanks to his knowledge of
drapery, he was drafted as a parachute rigger during his military service. On his
return, he decided to leave the family business, working for two years as a
chauffeur-mover, then as an armchair and carpet cleaner. He rejoined his parents’
business in 1953, and in 1963 the store moved across the street to a larger
location, before returning to its original address in 2020 following a real-estate
development on the store's site. The store is open Monday through Saturday,
8.30am to 12pm and 1.30pm to 7pm. He retired in 1991, but continues to work
to improve it and avoid idleness.

Fabrice (79)

Fabrice, aka Fernande, was born in 1943 in France, and began working in 1969
when he arrived in Paris. He met Jean-Pierre Klipfel, owner of the Rocambole
nightclub, who offered him the job of DJ, a position he held for four years, until
the nightclub moved to Villecresnes in 1973, where he became entertainment
manager. In 1976, he opened the nightclub, Le 18, on rue du Beaujolais in Paris,
and in 1980 he opened another nightclub, Le Scaramouche, on rue Vivienne. He
arrived at Chez Michou in April 2000, where he set up the restaurant, took care of
service, and cleared the tables before the show. On stage, he played Line Renaud
and Michelle Torr, and took part in the finale. He retired in 2023 at the age of 80.

Jean (84)

Jean, born in 1938, began working as an apprentice in 1952 in a Peugeot garage
in Boussac. In 1959, he left for Algeria for 28 months to do his military service. He
became a boss in 1965 when he bought a garage in Genouillac in the Creuse
département. He waited 11 years before being able to take his first vacation; his
credit finally paid off. He has been in his current garage since 1979, still in the
same locality. He retired in 1989, leaving the management to his eldest son, who
suddenly became seriously ill in 1990, forcing him to take over the business until
his son's recovery in 1995. Since then, he has continued to work on a voluntary
basis, not only to relieve his son's burden, but also to keep in touch with his former
customers and avoid the boredom of a retirement doing nothing.

Jeanne (87)

Jeanne was born in 1935 and worked from an early age on Thursdays, Saturdays,
and Sundays with her parents on days when she didn't have school. At the age

of 11, she worked full-time from 8am to 2am. The bar belonged to her grand-
parents, then to her parents. At the age of 30, she took over the business. Opening
hours: 12:15 to 3pm. Evenings from 7pm to 9pm if no one's there, otherwise until
2am. All her customers call her "Granny," and some don't hesitate to go behind
the bar to keep up the friendly atmosphere.

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Artist Interview - Francois Pugnet

As best you can, travel in time, back to day one. How did
all this get started?

My first memories of photography go back a long way, it
seems to me that the first photo I took was of my sister
Sylvie in her stroller. It must have been in 1965/1966, at the
request of my father, who was passionate about photography

Francois Pugnet
©Christophe Chevalin

and who was the first person to talk to me about it. He was
very attentive to what I photographed and gave me advice,
especially about framing and composition. My father's
interest, along with our vacation visits to museums and
castles to discover the beauty of the arts were important
factors that triggered my desire to make a living from
photography.

You've seen lots of changes since then.

At the time, I was shooting with a small Kodak. At the age
of 16, I worked during the vacations to buy my first SLR, a

Yashica TL Electro, with which I would learn my trade
before entering the profession with my Nikon FM's. I
switched to digital photography in the early 2000s, as my
customers were asking for digital files. I immediately liked
the flexibility offered by digital (changing iso from one
photo to the next, no longer worrying about whether to use
tungsten or daylight film...). But I also quickly came to
regret the immediacy of digital. I missed the hindsight with
regard to the work done, plus the uncertainty of waiting
for the result, and the possibility of chatting with
colleagues, all of us in hotel rooms sending our editorial
teams the day's photos. Cell phones and digital technology
had the merit of making me realize that I needed more
freedom — the reporter's job had changed so much that I no
longer recognized myself in it. I decided to become the
producer of my own reports.

Any meaningful moments or turning points early on?
Youth, school, young adulthood?

I was born in 1959 in Périgueux, a provincial town in
south-west France, into a loving, close-knit family. My
father held a _ responsible position in the French
administration, my mother was an office worker who
retired as soon as she could to devote herself to her
passion, painting and collages. I have two sisters, one
retired and the other a lawyer. My daughter, Marlene,
born in 1985, is a costume designer in the film industry.

As a teenager, my desire for independence led me to ask
my parents to send me to a boarding school outside the
city. I left for a small provincial town called Montignac,
better known the world over for the prehistoric
pictographs in the Lascaux caves. The college had one

advantage; it was one of two schools chosen by the French
Ministry of Education to test teaching via television. For
the French, math, and English exercises, we had a control
room where we edited the exercises. Every term,
depending on your grades, you were selected to be in the
class known as "A" or up to "E" which was reserved for the
weakest and where extra reinforcements were put in place
to help you make up your deficit.

The college also had a photo club, which opened the doors
to photography for me and gave me a love of the art to the
point of setting up a photo lab in the family home. As a
teenager, I used to devour photography magazines, looking
for inspiration and advice on how to shoot.

After college, it was off Paris. A fast start on a new career?
Or, was the road longer or bumpier than anticipated?

I still live in Paris, a city I adore, where culture and access
to it are fairly easy. It's a city in perpetual motion, life
never stops. I love the energy that all the world's great
megalopolises give. You can be a player and still be totally
anonymous. I also love the fact that you can move from
one district to another, and experience a different
atmosphere, as if you were moving from one city to
another. For a photographer, it's pure bliss — your eye is
always on the alert!

At first, though, not really knowing what to do, I took on a
series of uninteresting, low-paying odd jobs. I hadn't given
up photography, but the price of negatives and developing
them was so high that, by the 15th of the month, I couldn't
take any more photos. Maybe that's why even today I don't
get out much!

What happened? How did you turn things around?

One day, while photographing a Rai music concert, I had
the good fortune to meet Jean Francois Bizot, head of the
most famous French underground magazine of the time,
Actuel. He put me in touch with Claudine Maugendre,
head of the photo department, who gave me carte blanche
to shoot my reports, which allowed me to discover myself.
At the age of 26, I joined the Kipa agency, which in 1990
became part of the Sygma agency, which I left in 1996 to
become independent once again, at which time I
specialized in meetings with personalities from the world
of arts and entertainment.

Sisters — Paris, France

Your work has connected you with plenty of other
creative artists, particularly in cinema.

I've had the privilege of working with such famous
directors as Bob Swaim (Escort Girl with Sigourney
Weaver and Masquerade with Rob Lowe), Stephen Frears
(Dangerous Liaisons with Glenn Close and John Malkovitch),

and French director Peter Morel (Taken with Liam Neeson
and From Paris with Love with John Travolta), among
many, many others. I spent 30 years moving from one
plane to another, from a boat to a train, from a train to a
car or a motorcycle. For a large part of my career, until the
early 2000s, I was lucky enough not to be dependent on the
Internet or cell phones, which gave me a royal freedom - I
was unreachable!

It sounds perfect, a dream lifestyle. Freelancing and
roaming the globe. Yes?

To be honest, very often the commissions weren't very
interesting, photographically speaking, but they did have
several advantages. I traveled at a time when magazines
would advance expenses. This allowed me to work without
the anguish of knowing whether the story would be
published or not, a practice that has almost entirely
disappeared. I could make a living from my passion, travel
to the four corners of the world and, as the plane tickets
were paid for and the editors or clients weren't in an
absolute hurry to get the results, I was very often able to
change my return dates to give myself a photographic
break of several weeks to devote myself to my
photography.

Do you have any favorite locations, sites, subjects?

I've always had a particular fondness for Asia and
Africa, but unfortunately, it's become more and more
difficult to travel freely in Africa, but I've always had
and still have a love of travel, and I love the exhilaration
of setting off to discover an unknown land. Beyond the
continents I love, I've fallen in love at first sight with
nature in Patagonia, with the Bayou wetlands in Louisiana,

with the magic of Rome in Italy, with the hustle and bustle
of New York, with the nostalgia of Prague... Everywhere
there's beauty, sometimes more hidden than elsewhere,
but if you take the time, you'll find it: travel is a story of
patience!

When the Street Belongs to You — Hanoi, Vietnam

Any memories of locations that were not "favorites?"

The only time I took the plane home with relief was to
return from Poland, where I was in Warsaw just after the
fall of General Jaruzelski (1991), and where throughout my
stay the secret or political police followed my every move
without necessarily being very discreet.

In 1994, I was in Cambodia doing a report for a French
magazine on French actress Brigitte Fossey, in Bob Swaim’s
Femme de passions, the first film made in the country since
1975 when the Khmer Rouge came to power. As I stepped
away from the set to satisfy a natural need, I suddenly
heard several people shouting, “Stop!” I asked, "Why?"

Their answer froze my blood where I was - the ground had
not been cleared of anti-personnel mines, of which an
estimated 1,500,000 claimed more than 4,000 victims a
year. They directed me to return without looking back,
putting my feet where I'd put them to get to where I was.
The problem was that as the ground was dry, there were
no tracks, even if the distance was short - a hundred yards
or so - it seemed interminable!

Brothers - Angkor, Cambodia

Tell about this project, 75+ and Still Working. It's very
human, timely, and sympathetic.

The project was born after I went for an aperitif with a
childhood friend who, knowing my taste for unusual
places, took me to this bar where the service was provided
by an elderly lady using a walker. At the end of the service,
I asked her why she was continuing to work, and she
replied that, until she bought the bar, her parents hadn't
contributed to her pension, so she only received a small
amount, which meant she had to continue working in
order to have a better life. After hearing her answer, I
thought, she can't be the only one who lives to an old age
and has to keep working to get by?

As a result, I became interested in this social issue, taking the
approach of excluding artists, politicians, or religious figures,
as these people generally live out their lives while continuing
to practice their art or ministry. I made one exception,
Fabrice, because before he became a cabaret singer, worked
as a waiter and bussed tables in his earlier life.

These characters' realities and temperaments differ but, as
each reaches the time of passing on, they share a humanity
turned toward others, as if the remaining time should be
made good, to give full meaning to a life of toil. All have an
openness to the world, with a determination not to cut
themselves off from it. Torn between choice and non-
choice, they continue to ride the ever-tightening thread of
their destiny, unconcerned about the duration of their
futures, and finding the energy to keep moving forward
even though some of them know that they will soon be the
actors in a death foretold.

You have found that working "to get by" is only one of
the reasons that your characters are still at it.

For some, it is certainly financial necessity. Some don't
want to stop working because they want to maintain the
same standard of living in retirement as they had in work.
Some see it as a way of staying healthy and not being a
burden on their families, and some realize that they have
knowledge and skills that continue to be useful to society.

In the end, I'm interested in the paradoxes involved in the
lives of people working at an age that is generally marked
by retirement, continuing working methods and conditions
that are sometimes very different from those of the
generations that succeed them.

Many documentary photographers’ work has an overt
political dimension. Do you see your work as activist?

Of course, social issues are one of the most important
levers in my work, but I don't prioritize anything. Only my
emotion in front of a subject will trigger the process that
will lead me to deal with it, whether it's societal or not,
hoping that the way I tell the story with my photos will
make people want to take an interest.

For self-assigned work, how do you find new ideas?
Serendipity? Research? Is there a system?

Strangely enough, I don't look for stories, they come to me,
and they usually take a while to mature! It always starts
like this: I take a photo of some undefined subject, then,
over time, a second or even a third. After a while, if I realize

~=, 2 > i Ne Xa
The Lonely Child — Soweto, South Africa
that there's an obvious correlation between them and that

they can tell a story, I decide to report on them and devote
the necessary time to it. What I love most of all is walking

through unfamiliar cities, letting myself get sucked into
them, camera slung over my shoulder, to capture what's
never going to happen again!

I keep two projects running in parallel, one that takes
priority and a second, usually already published, that is on-
going. The Internet is a precious ally when it comes to
investigations. I use it regularly. And every day, I check the
weather. The weather is very important for a
photographer.

Is there a past photo project that was particularly
successful, interesting, formative, memorable?

In a career rich in encounters and discoveries of new
places, it's perilous to try to organize a ranking of one's
best memories, as it depends so much on the mood of the
moment, on which level one places oneself. The artistic, the
human?

I always tend to favor the human, so I'd say a reportage in
South Africa, just after the end of apartheid, where a
meeting opened up Soweto to me, allowing me to move
around and sleep there, certainly respecting the safety
rules inherent in these difficult neighborhoods, but also
powerful enough to be able to move around in complete
safety.

Your technical ability is extraordinary. Where did you study?

I am essentially a self-taught photographer. My tutors were
many of the greatest filmmakers and cinematographers
with whom I worked on projects around the world. From
them, I learned how to set up projectors, what accessories

were needed when you wanted to dim the light, what
gelatins were needed to produce this or that effect, or, on
the other hand, how to concentrate the luminous flux or
handle reflectors when you wanted to have a light capable
of unblocking shadows outdoors, how to create an
American night...

When I was a teenager, I was very impressed by the
rigorous framing of Cartier Bresson or William Klein, the
colors of Jay Maisel, Pete Turner, the violence of Donald
Mac Cullin, the eclecticism of Marc Riboud. Today, I'm not
going to be very original, but the photographer who speaks
to me most is Sebastiao Salgado.

MidJourney, Dall-E, and other applications have caused
a great disturbance among photographers. Will artificial
intelligence tools find a place in your practice?

I don't use AI in my photos, but I don't see the use of AI as
an enemy to be fought at all costs, and I also think that AI
can bring something to artistic photography. On the other
hand, its use in the news sector, where the risk of fake
news is obvious, needs to be regulated and framed very
firmly.

What's next? A show, a book, anything in the future that
we can help to advertise?

I never talk about my current subjects, but yes, I've been
working for over a year on a new report, and two French
publishers are interested in publishing a book on the
subject, 75 and Still Working, but nothing definitive has
been signed yet. For 2024, two exhibition projects: one in
Brussels, Belgium, and another in France.

Thank you, Francois. Great fun! Where can we see more
of your work and how can we stay in touch?

Instagram: @francois_pugnet_photography
Inquiries: pugnetfrancois9 (at) gmail (dot) com

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ag ys HE lr.

Francois Pugnet

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